Searching for the lost and alone

Volunteers often brave rough weather and conditions during search-and-rescue missions

Susan Schell

of the Gateway

The smooth, sleek shapes of horses move about in the dimly lit barn. Some of them stop, rear their heads up, sidestep or even jump backward at the bizarre array of weird objects in their path as they are led through an obstacle course. A flashing light blinks along the wall, a giant soccer ball rolls across the ground and colored strips of plastic hang from beams, moving eerily in the breeze. Any of them could be pretty scary to a horse. At one point, a woman runs frantically through the barn, shrieking, “Help me! Help me!”

“This is like a Halloween haunted house, except for horses,” said Victoria Emery, owner of the Silver Wing Stables, which houses the obstacle course in Spanaway.

Leading the horses through the course is called “desensitization training.” It’s designed to allow the horses to get used to a plethora of situations they may encounter. Today, the Peninsula Mounted Search and Rescue team is looking for a few good horses.

“We’re looking at new horses and riders to pass the test,” said PMSAR Training Officer Paul Fleming. “They’re required to be certified to join the search-and-rescue team.”

The horses are a vital part of the team that traverses rugged terrain to find and retrieve lost hikers, mushroom pickers — anyone lost in the wilderness.

The horses can navigate wooded areas and forests where all-terrain vehicles can’t go. It is vitally important that they not be skittish and are prepared to deal with situations they may encounter while they’re on the trail.

“We throw at them anything they might run into out there,” Fleming said. “All sorts of things ­— anything we can think of. There’s a certified list we have to check off. We have to be able to mount or dismount on either side, as we may be on a narrow trail at the edge of a cliff. They have to be able to cross bridges and ‘pony’ — follow on a rope attached to another horse.”

Fleming said the obstacle course is often changed to include situations the team has experienced during real rescues.

Each rescue can be a learning experience for the horse trainers.

“One time during a night search, a guy had set up a dome tent in the middle of the path,” Fleming said. “The horse didn’t know what to think of it — for all he knew, it could have been a bear. He just knew there was something in there making noises.

“The guy in the tent was thrashing around like crazy with his flashlight. He didn’t know what we were at first, and he was scared to death. For all he knew, we could have been a bear.”

Now the training includes some dome tents, “and the horses don’t think anything of it,” Fleming said.

A Pierce County Sheriff’s deputy helps out by driving his car into the barnyard. The horses are led in circles around the car as the emergency lights flash and the siren sounds.

The horses quickly adapt to the irritating, noisy “beast.” After a few laps, the horses look like they’ve been around patrol cars all their lives.

On this day, the horses aren’t the only ones being trained. Interested volunteers are taught how to use a Global Positioning System (GPS) and computer networks that help locate victims and keep volunteers in contact with one another.

“We just got all new equipment,” Fleming said. “We have new computers on the bus to download GPS to keep in touch with the horse guys. We have Wi-Fi capability so the scouts can transmit stuff to the bus.”

The “scouts” drive ahead of the horse trailers during missions in four-wheel-drive trucks or jeeps and find areas suitable for the horse trailers to park, Fleming said.

“They have to find somewhere the trailers can turn around, then they transmit the data back to the bus,” he said. “They make sure the road is safe ahead.”

Inclement weather is often a reason someone gets lost in the first place. Search and rescue volunteers are often called out in horrendous conditions.

“Two weeks ago, we were called out at 2:30 in the morning,” said Perry Schermerhorn, president of PMSAR. “There were two females missing on horses in the Elbe Hills. They were found huddled under a horse blanket under a tree.”

Schermerhorn said they were also called out on Christmas Day one year to help find a lost hunter.

All this from people who aren’t paid a cent. PMSAR consists entirely of volunteers.

“It keeps me gainfully engaged,” said volunteer Don Drake, who puts his strong military background to use with the team. “And this is information you can pass on to somebody else.”

Volunteers often are people who have a sense of adventure and enjoy the outdoors. Others have scouting experience and PMSAR is a natural for them.

Carol Rootvik became interested in PMSAR four years ago when her sons were active in the explorer program — the on-foot youth search-and-rescue team.

“The one misconception that people have about volunteering is that they don’t have time,” she said. “Nobody has time. But with this, you can volunteer when you can. Maybe you can just do it a few days a month, or even half a shift instead of a whole one. People can do this when they have the time and cut back when they don’t.”

Schermerhorn said the volunteer unit consists of about 25 people, and generally about half that many are available at any given time.

And that call could come at any time.

All-volunteer service

Anyone interested in joining the Peninsula Mounted Search and Rescue team can get a taste of what it’s like at the team’s fundraising event next spring.

From June 19-21, PMSAR teams up with the American Quarterhorse Association in Ellensburg to host a three-day trail ride and camping excursion that’s open to horseback riders and hikers. Attendees can learn how to use GPS and share in the camaraderie with other search-and-rescue volunteers.

For more information, call Training Officer Paul Fleming at 253-225-0780, PMSAR President Perry Schermerhorn at 253-225-2226 or visit www.pmsar.org.

Reach Lifestyles Coordinator and reporter Susan Schell at 253-853-9240 or by e-mail at susan.schell@gateline.com.